A few fixes for the Tribe

[freeper57]

Send Graves to Buffalo or release him. He's washed up. Move Johnson to middle relief. Bring up Sowers to take Johnson's place in the rotation.

Send Vasquez to Buffalo, with Boone becoming the utility infielder. Bring up Marte and put him at third. He can't do any worse than Boonie this year, and probably will do better.

Bring up Garko and move Michaels to utility outfielder. Release Hollandsworth or send him to Buffalo as well.

[consigliere]

Bring up Garko and move Michaels to utility outfielder. Release Hollandsworth or send him to Buffalo as well.

So who plays LF then....Garko?

Garko won't be up unless Perez/Broussard are injured.

They do need to release Graves and Vazquez, and callup Merloni to replace Vazquez and Karsay to replace Graves. Also, I would expect Guthrie to be sent down very soon....maybe even Jason Davis....and Carmona to be added to the bully and also maybe Perez.

Watch out for Mujica as well....

[ACrank]

If he is then bring him up - if not - find someone who can play short....or keep Vazquez

(Pluto mentioned calling Marte up and moving Boone to UIF - can Boone handle short defensively?)

[consigliere]

I don't think Boone is the answer as a utility guy. He has played like 20 games in his career in the middle of the diamond, and those all came at 2B. Drop Vazquez and Boone and give me Marte and Merloni and call it a day (Merloni is doing fine in the limited starts he has had at SS in Buffalo).

[pup]

I don't see there being a need to make any moves with the lineup. They are scoring plenty of runs, and no matter who is here as an option (stealing Buffman's name for him) Inertia Man is not going to use anyone but his normal starting lineup a majority of the time.

Now pitching, we can talk. IMO, CC, Lee and Wickman are the only three that should feel safe with their current role. Carmona was not exactly overwhelming in his 3 starts, so why bring him up and put him in the bullpen? Sowers appears to be ready for an every fifth day gig, so get him up here. Karsay will be here soon, with Graves being sent to Exile Island.

[consigliere]

Actually, Carmona was impressive in all three starts before tiring out in the 5th/6th inning. I mentioned this in my minor league report today about Carmona (the comments are from Farrell):

On Carmona: According to Farrell, Carmona is not slated for a bullpen role…..yet. The idea right now is to keep him in the Buffalo starting rotation in order to let him continue to develop his secondary pitches; however, the Indians have taken note of some of the success other teams have had with putting some of their big starting pitching prospects in a bullpen role (i.e. McCarthy in Chicago and Liriano in Minnesota). Farrell actually stated that, going forward, moving Carmona to the pen in Cleveland is an option they may look at because of an obvious need in Cleveland for relief pitching, and also that he may be better off breaking into the big leagues in a bullpen role because as a reliever he would only go through a lineup one maybe two times, whereas if he is a starter he would rollover through the lineup at least three times.

[pup]

4 good innings, followed by tiring out is about what I would consider "not exactly overwhelming".

If there is one thing I agree with this organization on it is not moving a guy like Carmona to the pen. He is not a "power pitcher" and I don't think they transfer as well to the pen for a short time. What they need to do is let him pitch in the minors, and make him go 110 pitches every time out to build up some stamina. Then he can join the rotation next year and not "tire out" in the 5th/6th inning.

[ACrank]

about the utility infield spot - i really don't think Merloni is it because i sstill question if he can handle short defensively (i took a look at his games played when he was with the Indians the last time - never even touched short and ended up platooning at first with Broussard - he has to be doing damn well with Buffalo to be a serious candidate for short)....

Now i saw Akron for the first time this week, and wonder if another Brandon - Pinckney is a darkhorse candidate for that utiliy infield spot for 07? He has played short before at AA, and is playing second now.

[consigliere]

They aren't going to waste a roster spot on Brandon freaking Pinckney. Joe Inglett is the darkhorse for the utility job in 2007. It is why he is getting an extensive look at SS in Akron.

Anyway, when Merloni was here, we had Omar at SS....so his opportunities were few and far inbetween. That year, John McDonald was the backup SS and got all the "other" time at SS.

[consigliere]

Ok, just listened to the press conference.

He didn't say it specifically, but you are going to see at least two changes to the bullpen for tomorrow's game. He kept mentioning "changing roles" for pitchers here and in Buffalo and Akron...

Which leads me to believe that Jason Stanford might be moved to the bullpen. He's a quality arm, and he would fill that 2nd lefty void.

Also, he was sure to mention that two years ago they brought in Betancourt from Akron.....so I am wondering if Mujica may in fact get the call.

Going over the roster, here are out options:

Players on the 40-man:
Andrew Brown
Fausto Carmona
Eddie Mujica
Rafael Perez
Jason Stanford

Non-40 guys:
Steve Karsay
Felix Heredia
Hyang Nam-Choi
Rob Bell

Jeremy Sowers is not considered because he stated he is not moving him to the bullpen, and they are not doing anything with the starting pitchers right now.

With Betancourt probably coming back next week, I could see them sticking with one of Graves/Davis/Guthrie until he returns.....or they just may remove all three and bring in three totally fresh faces.

Of the 9 guys I listed, here is how I'd shake it out:

Most Likely:
Jason Stanford
Steve Karsay
Fausto Carmona

Possible:
Eddie Mujica
Rafael Perez
Andrew Brown

Basically, you have 6 guys vying for 3 spots in the pen. With Shapiro wanting a strike thrower and Brown struggling with control, I don't see it being him. I think it definitely will be Karsay and Stanford....the only question is do they add a 3rd guy....and if so, which will it be: Carmona? Perez? Or Mujica?